The Bird and the Bat
by Robin2002
Summary: When a sleep deprived Dick Grayson(Robin) is caught besting his entire team, and Batman in training, the Light decides to send an agent to infiltrate his life, and 'convince him to see the light
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own any of the characters related to the DC Universe.**

CHAPTER ONE

Robin stumbled to the telephone booth that would zeta him from Gotham to the Cave, pausing for a second to hear the boom of his would-be-captors warehouse exploding. Robin took a moment to compose himself before entering the telephone booth.

It had been a rough day for Robin. In school, there was a lot of homework due, and a test in math. After school, Dick had immediately got into costume, and went to the Batcave. From there he went on patrol, but was told to meet back at the cave for training by 6:00. As Robin, he had went out on patrol and seen a large group of people walking into a warehouse. He had recognized one of them as Bane. Robin had gone in to investigate, and after a few failed attempts to report to Agent A, he realized that the communications were being jammed. Robin entered the building cautiously, and stayed out of sight. Once inside, he grappled into the rafters.

Robin silently threw some of his explosive robinrangs all around the circular group of people. When Bane stepped up to speak to the large group, Robin blew the explosives. The blast knocked out most of the goons, and knocked the rest down. His laugh rang out as Robin jumped towards the exit. The structural integrity of the building had been neutralized, so the warehouse would collapse on itself, and him if he didn't hurry.

Robin landed in a run, and was almost to the exit, when something hit him from the side. Bane had activated his venom pumps, and rammed into him. Robin was knocked off of his feet, landed hard on his left shoulder, and rolled so he was on his feet. He quickly dodged as Bane charged again. Throwing a few birdarangs over his shoulder, Robin sprinted towards the door. He heard Bane charging, and rolled out of the way. Robins biggest mistake was that he rolled into a corner of the warehouse where two of the walls met. As he slammed it with his shoulder, pain shot up his arm, from his bad landing earlier. Bane charged again, and Robin saw exactly what Bane had in mind. With Robin in the corner, he couldn't dodge to the side, without being trampled.

Seeing this, Robin waited and kicked off of the wall behind him, flipping upside down, over Bane, and grabbed at Bane`s venom tubes. It was only because his arm gave way that things weren't worse. When Robbin flipped up, he was holding himself with his hands. His left arm blazed with pain, and gave way. He fell down Bane's back, his right hand scrambling for purchase, and ripping one of the tubes out of the venom tank on Bane's back. Bane reached up, barely missing the boy wonders leg as Robin fell. Bane smashed into the wall, and the last of the small bit of structural integrity that had been keeping the building from collapsing disappeared. Large chunks of ceiling and bars started to fall.

Robin sprinted for the door, and just before he made it a large chunk of ceiling came falling straight for him. Robin tried to dodge, but the chunk caught his left arm, and blocked the only exit of the warehouse. A searing pain flashed though Robins arm again. Before Robin could get on his feet, Bane smashed into him. Robin flew into the wall, barely managing to land on his feet before he was punched back into the wall by Bane. Blackness swam across Dick`s vision, as he tried to keep from blacking out. Luckily, a piece of the building fell on Bane, distracting him long enough for Robin to unload his arsenal. Robinrangs flew everywhere, along with Birdarangs, and Robin backed towards the door. Finally satisfied that enough of his explosive robinrangs had been planted, Robin blew an exit in the wall, and ran. Quickly pulling up his glove Robin checked the time. It was already 6:05, so he would have to leave Bane to be picked up by the Police, who he could hear in the distance. As he ran, he tapped the button to arm the rest of the explosive robinrangs in the warehouse, and pressed the countdown button. It would take about half a minute to blow, so that gave him just enough time to get to the telephone booth.

…

"Robin B01" the computer said as Robin zetaed into the cave. Wally and Kaldur were seated at the couch, and the rest of the team was nowhere to be seem.

"Your late," Wally said with a smirk.

"We decided to wait until you arrived to start the training," Kaldur said.

"Hey," Superboy called in from the training room. "how much longer are we going to wait? The girls are anxious to get started."

"Robin has finally arrived, so we can start anytime," Kaldur called back.

Kid Flash had just ran to the training area, when the zeta tubes activated again.

"Batman 02" the computer said as Batman appeared.

"Batman," Kaldur asked "to what do we owe this honor?"

"I've just come to assess the team, and determine if you are ready for a new member" Batman said, walking towards the training area.

Kaldur and Robin walked behind him "Alright, today we will do a tournament" Black Canary said, as everyone walked into the training room. "The matchups have already been picked. Robin vs. Kid Flash, Aqualad vs. Zatanna, Superboy vs. Ms. Martian, and Artemis vs. Rocket. Robin, Kid Flash, you start." Kid Flash zipped to the arena, and Robin followed after. "Begin" Black Canary said, watching.

Kid Flash ran at Robin, only to get thrown over him, and smack into the wall. Kid Flash landed, and Robin was on him in an instant. A well placed knee to the stomach, and a throw sent Kid Flash stumbling towards the other side of the arena. A birdarang hitting him in the back of the head was the only think that kept KF from falling backwards, and loosing. However, this sent him forward to a waiting Robin, who kneed him in the stomach again. Robin then elbowed Kid Flash in the face as he stuck his foot behind KF's legs. Kid Flash tripped backwards, and landed on his back.

"Fail, Kid Flash" the computer said, as Robin helped his friend up.

"Nice job Robin. 8 seconds," said Black Canary, as Robin and KF walked back to the side. "and Kid Flash, work on your technique, Robin had you from the start."

Robin slumped against the wall watching as Kaldur and Zatanna walked to the center of the training are. Boy was he tired. This last week was really catching up to him. He would have to finish this fast so he could go get some rest before he passed out. Completely absorbed in his thoughts, Robin missed the short spar in which Kaldur schooled Zatanna.

"Aqualad, you face Robin now," Black Canary said as she motioned for Robin to come join Aqualad in the center of the room. Robin walked forward to the center of the room, and prepared himself. He had no idea how much longer he could last, but the quicker he finished this the better. "Begin"

Robin quickly ran at Aqualad, catching him off-guard. It wasn't Robin's style to run into a fight, but Aqualad reacted, preparing for the eminent strike. Robin frontflipped over Aqualad, kicking him square in the back. Aqualad stumbled forward, bringing out his water sword and shield to block the eminent birdarang that was coming in. However, he wasn't prepared for the birdarang to explode right before it hit his feet, and cover them I foam. Aqualad was about to chop himself free when Robin kicked him in the chest. With his feet encased in foam, Aqualad lost his balance, and fell backwards. "fail Aqualad," the computer said as Aqualad cut the foam away from his legs.

Batman eyed Robin carefully. That was an unpopular tactic in training, as it didn't truly test anything about your personal skill. It just proved the point that if someone has lost their stability, they can't stay on their feet if you hit them.

Robin leaned back against the wall again to watch, fighting the wave of sleepiness that rolled over him as he did so. Robin accidentally closed his eyes and barely managed to open them before he went to sleep. He was so tired.. looking back at the fighting arena, Robin was surprised to see Superboy, and Rocket fighting. He must have closed his eyes for a bit more than a second or two, and missed Superboy beat Ms. Martian, and Rocket beat Artemis.

Superboy quickly dove at Rocket, so when she put him in an energy bubble, she would be in it as well. As predicted, Rocket placed Superboy, and accidentally herself into an energy bubble. One good punch from Superboy knocked her into the wall, and she collapsed the bubble, lying on the ground. "Fail, Rocket," the computer said, as Superboy helped her up.

Robin blinked a few times to dispel the sleepiness that had overcome him. Of course no one could see this because of his mask, but he needed to be at the top of his game for this one. He jogged to the center of the room, ready to move. "Begin" Black Canary said, and Robin ran. BIrdarangs seemed to fly from every direction at Superboy. The only thing that was missing was Robin's signature laugh that always seemed to be there whenever he did something like this. Suddenly a cable shot from the ceiling, wrapping around Superboy's legs, and pulling him into the air. He was immediately dropped, and Robin ran at him, kicking Superboy so that he couldn't land on his feet. "Fail, Superboy" the computer said before Superboy could climb to his feet. Robin held out a hand to help him up, but Superboy slapped it away. He obviously still had some anger issues.

"Robin," Batman said, not even trying to hide the disapproval in his voice.

Robin tried hard to hide the dread he was feeling. If he didn't get some rest soon he would pass out. "What?" Robin asked.

"Stop holding back, your team needs to know what you can do." Batman stated.

"Wait…he was holding back?!" Wally exclaimed.

"Yes," Batman replied.

"Ok, how can I 'show them what I can do` without them being able to last more than a few seconds against me if I were to get serious?" Robin asked Batman.

"I'll help you show them," Batman said, much to the dread of Robin. If he had to fight with Batman for more than a few minutes he would probably pass out, and he couldn't do that.

"How about we show them tomorrow" Robin asked, playing the last of his cards he could use against Batman to evade having to fight.

"Now" Batman said.

"Ok," Robin said to himself. "I`ve been training for this, It`s time to see if I have what it takes." Robin stepped towards his mentor, and the team, stepped back a few paces. As did Black Canary. Robin took a deep breath, calming himself down, and actually waking him up a bit more. And then Robin sprinted at Batman. They fought for about a solid minute before Batman got he upper hand. He had inadvertently kicked Robin's injured shoulder, causing Robin to hesitate just a second to long, and get a stomach full of fist. Robin almost collapsed, but instead managed to do a one-handed front handspring, and kick off into Batman's face, and do a backflip back to the ground. The pain in Robin`s arm, and his will to win was all that was keeping him conscious now, and as the pain started to lessen, Robin felt himself start to slip. He probably didn't even have a minute before he would pass out, so he had to hurry.

Robin quickly kicked off of the wall, and back into the fray. To anyone watching it would probably look sort of like a dance, each one flipping, kicking ducking, punching, and jumping just perfectly so that neither one could find an opening. Batmans leg hit Robin hard, sending him smashing into the wall. Robin`s left arm smashed into the wall, and it flared in pain. Robin stumbled to his feet, barely keeping conscious through the combined pain and tiredness. It would be so much easier to just give in and call it a day. But Dick was determined. He wouldn't give in. Period. Everyone watched in awe as Robin started to flip across the training area, landing hit after hit after hit on Batman and receiving only a few himself. One solid kick sent Batman stumbling, and another knocked him back. Seeing his chance, Robin swung his left leg into the back of Batman's knee, swiveled, and elbowed Batman in the chest, sending him toppling backwards.

"Fail, Bat…" the computer abruptly stopped, almost as if it could feel Batman`s glare.

Breathing hard Robin walked towards his room at the cave. He didn't usually sleep here, more accurately he never slept here, but they gave all of the members a room, just in case. Robin rounded the corner, and got to the last bend before his room, when the blackness hit. His vision blurred, and Dick managed to take a few more steps before he collapsed…


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Barbara Gordon quickly ducked into her room, before answering her communicator. "What is it Bat's?" she asked.

"A Breakout in Gotham, Robin's…. out, so I'll need your help" Batman said

"Wait, what happened to Robin?" Barbara asked, an edge of worry creeping into her voice.

"Meet me at the Batcave in 10 minutes," Batman said completely ignoring her question. "Batman out."

"Wait, What happened to Robin?" Barbara asked into her comm. before realizing Batman had ended the communication. Barbara quickly suited up, sending a text to Dick asking what happened, and telling him to respond as soon as he could. Having that out of the way, Barbara was soon on her way to the Batcave.

When she finally got there, Batman was waiting for her. As she walked in, the first thing out of her mouth was a question, "Where's Dick?"

Batman completely ignored her, and immediately moved on to briefing. "The breakout occurred here," Batman said, pulling up a holographic map of Arkam Asylum. "So I want you to patrol here, to here." Batman finished, closing down the map, and heading for the exit.

"Wait," Barbara said, looking at Batman strangely. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BEST FRIEND?" She asked taking great care to pause between each word.

Batman sighed. "I don't know. After training he walked off, and I found him unconscious on the ground a few minutes later. Before I could do any investigating I got the message that there had been a breakout in Arkam," Batman explained "Alfred's looking after him right now." He added.

Barbara could tell that, like her, Batman was worried for Dick. After all, Batman was his legal guardian. However she also knew that it wouldn't get in the way of his work, and she would have to do the same. "Ok," She said. "But as soon as we get back your telling me exactly what happened, and what led up to it."

"Ok," Batman said. "Now lets get down to Arkam before the villains decide we aren't coming" They both ran for the vehicles. Batgirl hopped on her Batcycle, and Batman climbed into the Batmobile. Moments later they were on their way to Arkam.

On the way Batman told Batgirl his plan. " These two groups are obviously a distraction for this center group," Batman pointed out.

"So we both concentrate on the center group, right?"

"No. We split up. You take this side group, and I'll take this other side group. "

"But isn't that falling for their trap, and going after the distractions?" Batgirl asked.

"Normally it would, but they don't know that Robin isn't here. The distractions would be to keep you busy, so that I would take the larger group. They most likely expected to trap me somehow," Batman explained. "With Robin not here, we take the distractions down, because together they have more escapee's than the main group. After we take out the distractions, we'll converge on the center point. A large group would have a harder time disappearing,"

"That way, even if they escape they never really fulfilled their objective, and are more likely to show themselves to try again!" Batgirl said catching on.

"Good luck" Batman said as they separated, to deal with the distractions. As Batgirl arrived at her side, she decided that distraction wasn't the correct term. Mr. Freeze and his henchmen were pouring out of Arkam. At a closer look Batgirl realized something. They weren't running out, they were running in. She quickly snuck around to the back, and threw a batarang into the back of Mr. Freeze's head, cracking the glass.

He swiveled around, his ice canon immediately trained on her. The ice caught her feet as she was gliding down at him. Batgirl smashed her now ice encased feet into Mr. Freeze's head cover. The ice shattered, along with the glass. One punch to his now exposed face knocked him out. As he fell backwards an explosion was heard inside. Mr. Freeze's goons ran out with what looked like Bane's venom pack, but last she had checked Bane was still on the loose. In fact, just earlier that day she had been on patrol to try and find him.

Some of the goons finally ran at her and Batgirl let loose a barrage of batarangs. A few of then went down, but most of them kept coming. She engaged in physical combat. Arms seemed to fly everywhere, and Batgirl kept dodging, occasionally kicking, or punching a goon. When the numbers dropped down to better odds, she went fully offensive. They were down in an instant. Then Batgirl heard the cock of guns, and stopped. There were about 5 of Freeze's lackeys left, and every single one had a gun. Batgirl guessed they had just run out of the building, or else they would have already shot her. She quickly dropped a smoke bomb from her utility belt, and back-hand-springed into the trees behind her. They opened fire, but luckily every shot missed. Silently, Batgirl used the tree's as cover, snuck up on one of the gunners, and took him down. After repeating this twice more, Batgirl threw a batarang, knocking the gun out of the last goon's hands. She attacked just as he turned, receiving a kick to the face for his efforts. "Hold it right there," a voice from behind her said.

"I knew I missed something," Batgirl said to herself, as she turned around. There was a gun pointed directly at her face, only a few inches away. Thinking on her feet, Batgirl suddenly collapsed. As the gun swiveled down to aim at her, her feet flew up, smashed the gun from the goon's hands, and, using her hands, Batgirl pushed off the ground to kick him in the face.

It was fitting that Batman chose this time to call her. "You finished up over there?" he asked.

"Yup, just finished," she replied. Batgirl swiveled when she heard a noise behind her. Bane was standing there, hooking up his venom tank to him. He visibly grew in size. " Um… make that almost done," Batgirl said, ending the communication. She would need all of her concentration to win this fight.

"It must be my lucky day," Bane said. "I get to break the Bird, and then the Bat." Bane ran at her, punching. Batgirl dodged, and threw a few batarangs. They bounced harmlessly off of his back, and Bane charged again. Barbara dodged, and ran towards the trees. As Bane charged again, she jumped off of the tree, fanned out her cape, and glided over Bane's head. Bane crashed into a tree, and a batarang from behind hit his venom tube. It wavered, but didn't break.

"Rats," Barbara muttered under her breath. Bane turned again, and ran. This time, Batgirl dodged, and he tripped over her foot. She jumped on him, drew out a batarang, and was about to cut the tube when Bane's fist smacked her in the face. Barbara was knocked off of Bane, and about a foot away. Bane jumped to his feet, and tried to punch her on the ground. Barbara rolled, dodging it, immediately rolling the other way to dodge another punch. Bane raised his hands to smash down on her with both. This gave Barbara enough time to pull out Dick's latest toy.

The batarang shot into Bane's fist, and exploded into a self-hardening foam. Batgirl smiled as the foam encased Bane's arm up to his elbows. She tucked her legs in, and somersaulted in-between Bane's legs. She smashed into Bane's back, and he fell forward. A batarang shot from the trees, and snapped Bane's venom tube. Batman was finally here.

It took about a minute for the two to hand cuff Mr. Freeze and Bane, and a minute more for the police to arrive. Batman had taken down Penguin, Catwoman, Man Bat, Firefly, and Killer Croc. But the other group had successfully escaped. With mixed results they headed back to the Batcave. Once there Barbara reminded Bruce that he had promised to tell her what had happened to Dick. "Well" he began. " During training I noticed that he was only using his right arm, and avoiding hand to hand combat whenever possible. It also seemed like he was in a rush. Instead of defeating his opponents, he would just trip them. I noticed this, and decided to spar with him. Even from the start I could tell he was off his game, so I slowed down to stay with him. I got one good hit in, hit his shoulder and his defense dropped completely. He seemed to fall forward, but he actually flipped up and kicked me. I wasn't sure if he was ok, but he was determined. I didn't want to hurt him, so I let him win. It was the quickest way to talk to him and have him listen without injuring him further. He walked off, and when I found him he was unconscious." Bruce finished.

"Oh.. well we should really go see how he's doing," Barbara said, as she walked toward the exit of the Batcave that led to Wayne Manor


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

Dick opened his eyes, and looked around. He was in his room in Wayne Manor. He looked at the time. "5:30! Man I slept in," Dick thought as he got out of bed. Getting out of bed, he immediately felt all the bruises he had received. Dick started to stretch, but when he rolled his shoulders, his left arm flared with pain. Looking down, Dick could tell his shoulder was dislocated. It was because of this that it took him till 6:00 to get dressed for the day. He had school at 7:20, which left him plenty of time.

Dick opened the door to his room and walked towards the kitchen when he heard talking in Bruce's room. Usually he was already in the kitchen by know, so that was a little odd. Convincing himself that it was ok if he listened in, Dick put his ear to the door. "So…" Bruce said, "how bad was it?"

"He has a dislocated shoulder," Alfred said, pausing. "And his wrist is fractured." It was then that the events of the previous day flooded back into Dick's memory. His patrol, his fight with Bane, winning the tournament, besting Batman. That one made him pause. He couldn't have actually beaten Batman could he? No. Batman must have been going easy on him, or have purposefully lost, or something.

"Has it been treated yet?" Bruce asked.

"Not yet. I was going to wait until he woke up." Alfred said.

"Well, you don't have to wait any longer, he's just outside the door," Bruce said quite loudly.

"In that case I'll be on my way," Alfred said. Having just woken up, Of course Dick`s reaction was slowed, but he still almost made it out of the hall before Alfred caught him. "Master Dick, I must insist that you come here right now," He said.

"What is it Alfred?" Dick asked.

"Come to the infirmary with me," He said. It was obviously a command. Dick followed silently.

…

At the infirmary, Alfred dealt with Dick's dislocated shoulder. Over all it was a painful experience, but Dick was used to pain. Now his wrist hurt, and he couldn't keep himself from wincing as Alfred dealt with that. "Now this will help your arm to heal faster than normal, but you still need to go easy on your arm. Try not to use it when ever possible. You won't need a cast, again thanks to this formula I made after Bruce broke his back fighting with Bane a while back. However, you will need to wear this brace for the next couple weeks at least," Alfred explained.

"Gotcha," Dick said as he tested out his arm. The brace was a fore-arm brace, and black. He wouldn't be able to move his wrist, but the rest of his arm could be used. "Thanks Alfred," he said as he headed for the kitchen again. Once there he put two pieces of bread in the toaster. Then he went to get his backpack ready. He was in 8th grade, and had his hard-ish classes that day. History was his first class, then English, then Math, then lunch, then Gym. They were in the gymnastics unit, so Dick was having lots of fun in Gym. Math, English, were, for the most part over 3 hours of boredom. Most of what they were teaching he already knew, and what he didn't wasn't at all fun. History was sometimes interesting, but this was the day with the most homework.

The school schedule was sort of weird as well. They split your 8 periods up into two days worth of school. You have 4 one day, and 4 the next. In Dick's opinion, this just led to more homework, and thusly less fun, but, hey, it gave him a day more to do all of the homework, so it was sort of worth it. You needed to be in the 1st period of the day at 7:20, even though class didn't actually start until 7:30. The first 10 minutes were for reading, talking, doing homework that was due that day, but you forgot about, etc. Each class was 1 hour and 40 minutes. Lunch was about ½ of an hour, and there was a 10 minute transition period between each class except for lunch. That way school got out at exactly 3:00.

Dick finished getting his backpack ready, and went back to finish breakfast. Not surprisingly, Alfred had changed his breakfast into something much better. After finishing his meal of whatever breakfast food he wanted, Dick started to walk to school. It wasn't that far, and he could use the fresh air.

Usually Barbara met him at school about a ½ hour earlier, but not today. He wondered briefly where she was, but put the thought aside. She was in his Math class, and in his Gym class. He could ask her then. He quickly finished his homework, and put it away.

In math, Dick took his seat next to Barbara. She leaned over and whispered "I've got a surprise for you. I'll show you during lunch," And then the teacher stood up, and droned on and on about the best way to find angles, and other stuff.

"Honestly," Dick thought. "how do teachers talk for hours each day and say the same things over and over, and not get sick of it?" Dick raised his hand 5 minutes from the end of class. " How is this relevant? I mean, when would anyone actually use this?"

"Well," the teacher said. When you get into high school, and College, you will need to know this," the teacher said.

"So, in other words, we learn this so that if we grow up to teach math we will be able to teach this to our students. Good lesson though," Dick said with a grin. The teacher grinned back. Dick seemed to constantly be amusing the teachers, and when a teacher thought they had an opportunity to embarrass one of their students, and teach them at the same time, they would usually take it. And the teacher saw such an opportunity with Dick.

"Do you understand what this is for, Mr. Grayson?"

"Maybe," Dick answered non committedly, earning a snicker from the class.

"Well, I want you to answer this question for the class," The teacher said, writing a problem down. He was just stepping back when Dick said something.

"Easy, the answer is 56.57," Dick said with a grin. It took the teacher about 30 seconds to do the problem, and when he found the answer to be correct, he stared at his student. Dick had always aced his tests, but with his non-committed answer, he had incorrectly led his teacher to believe that he wasn't paying attention, when in reality, he had probably already mastered this. After the teacher stared for a bit longer, the bell rang. The class left, some snickering, others laughing out loud.

During lunch, Dick sat next to Barbara. "So, you wanted to talk, or something?"

"Yeah, this is for you," She said pulling a bag out from under the table. Dick started to open it when Barbara quickly grabbed his hands, moving them away from the present. "Not now, after you get home silly," She said.

"Ok," Dick said. "What's this for anyways?"

"Oh, you don't know?" She asked.

"No, Babs, of course I know, but you don't usually get me gifts." Dick explained.

"Well, I thought today I would, now talk to me more after school, were getting all sorts of weird looks," Barbara said, looking around.

"Sure thing," Dick said with a smile.

Gym started out uneventful, but, when Dicks turn came around it got interesting. "Ok," the teacher had said. "I don't expect any of you to be able to do this, even at the end of this unit, but this is what you could do if you keep practicing," and she proceeded to do handsprings, flips, and then jump onto the bars. Once she was finished with her routine, she walked back to the staring group of kids. "Today we will work on the front-handspring." She said as she went into explaining the basics behind the front-handspring.

After she finished explaining it, the students all got in a line. The person at the front of the line would perform a front-handspring. If they did it adequately, they would be allowed to move on to the other side of the room, where they would be able to practice for a while. The only rule was that if you had already passed off the newest move, then you could only use moves you had already learned. When Dick's turn finally came, he executed a flawless handspring. The teacher sent him over, thinking he had probably just received minor gymnastics training before. When Dick started his routine, the other students practicing on the other side stopped and stared. He was on the gymnastics bars, doing all sorts of tricks. When the teacher finally saw him, she asked if anyone in line actually knew gymnastics. Barbara raised her hand, so the teacher put her in charge. "Make sure their form is adequate, and help them not to get hurt." The teacher walked over to Dick.

"Didn't I say to only do tricks you had already learned?" Dick realized she was talking to him, and jumped forward, grabbing the lowest of the trapezes the gymnasium had. He swung forward into a triple front flip, and landed in front of the teacher.

One of the students from the line, hearing what the teacher had said, jogged over. "Um… that's circus boy your talking to, so… he's probably already learned that.

"Did you by chance perform for the Hailey Circus company?" She asked.

"That's the one," Dick said with a grin.

Her eyes suddenly glinted with understanding. "Your Richard Grayson," She said in awe.

"Hey," Dick said quietly. "Be careful who you say that to, some of the kids already call me circus boy, I don't need any of them calling me circus freak," Dick said.

"Um…could I get your autograph?" The teacher asked.

"Sure." While Dick was writing, a voice was heard from the other side of the gym.

"Hey, circus boy's writing something. Maybe he finally decided that circus freak is a better term."

Dick sighed. "Here you go," he said handing the signed paper to his teacher. The rest of gym seemed to go by slowly, everyone teasing him, although only about two people actually knew what they were teasing him about. When school ended, Dick was grateful. Barbara found him after school.

"I'm sorry about how gym went," She said.

"It's fine," Dick said.

"How about you open that gift now?" Barbara said.

"Ok," Dick said as he pulled it out of his backpack. When he opened it, there was a stuffed elephant. In it's hands were two tickets. The tickets were for the circus. "Um…thanks," Dick said.

"Come on Dick, did you really think I would get you a gift without a purpose?" Barbara asked. "The tickets are for a special show the Hailey Circus puts on every year today. It's called "The Grayson Memoir". And the elephant has special meaning to it as well," Barbara said.

"No way," Dick said under his breath. But it was. This was the exact stuffed elephant that his parents had given him when he was first joining the circus. Then he looked at the tickets.

"There's two, so you can take someone with you," Barbara said. "That way you might actually be able to make it through to the end before you leave," She said with a sad smile. Dick knew exactly what she was talking about. His parents had died 4 years ago, that day. The show was the circus's way of honoring them.

"Hey, Babs," Dick said with a grin. "Would you go with me to the circus tonight?"

"Sure thing," Barbara said, returning his grin. "Oh, I'll have to ask my dad's permission first, but I'll give you a call. See you," she said waving as she ran off towards her house. Dick walked towards the parking lot where Alfred would probably be waiting to pick him up. On the way, he saw the Vice Principle walking out of the school with a red haired girl. She looked sort of familiar to Dick, but he couldn't place exactly where.

Upon seeing him, the Vice Principle walked over to him, she followed. "What can I do for you?" Dick asked him.

"This is our newest student, would you mind showing her around the school?" He asked.

"Sure," Dick said.

"So…what's your name," The girl asked stepping towards him.

"Dick Grayson," he said extending his hand to shake.

"You can call me Pam," She said taking his hand.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry this one took so long, but life got in the way. The next chapter should be coming especially quick to make up for this one being so slow. This one is a bit low on the action, but the next chapter should have a decent amount. Thanks to everyone who has read this, favorited it, reviewed, or followed. I really appreciate it. But enough of my ramblings. Here is chapter Four.**

CHAPTER FOUR

"Robin B02," the computer said as he zetaed to the Cave. Wally was sitting in front of the T.V. surfing channels. Superboy and Artemis were watching the T.V. as well. Zatanna was no where to be seen, "Probably asleep in her room," Robin thought. Megan was in the kitchen making cookies, and Kaldur was sitting on the other couch reading.

"So you finally decided to join us," Wally stated with a grin.

"We should be getting the briefing for our next mission in a few minutes,"Kaldur said, as Wally paused his channel surfing. There was some circus thing on. Wally glanced at Robin, then back to the T.V. He was glad that Robin was paying no attention to the T.V. or else he might recognize what was on.

Wally was about to change the channel when Robin saw the screen. "Oh… that reminds me," he said. "Batman gave me the day off for personal stuff." The members of the team looked at Robin sort of funny. They had known him for quite some time and he had never gotten the day off for personal business. Then again, the team had only been in service for about 9 months. Occasionally Robin would miss due to the Dynamic Duo thing in Gotham, but he had never missed for personal stuff. "What," Robin said. "I have a life you know." Of course the team knew this, they had just never contemplated it before. He needed to keep his identity a secret, which meant he actually had a life. He just always seemed to be with the team, or with Batman in Gotham. They had never actually heard anything about his personal life.

"Will you be staying for the briefing?" Kaldur asked.

"Sure," Robin said. "That way I can join you if I have time."

"Hey, does anyone know why the circus is having this special show going on tonight?" Artemis asked. Wally face palmed as she asked. "Well, Mr. Speedy, do you know why the circus is doing some special show tonight? After all, you were the one to stop on this channel."

"Some Gotham trapeze artists died a few years back tonight. Apparently they were the best anyone had ever seen, and the special show is a commemoration for them," Robin forced out, trying hard to keep his voice steady.

"And you know this how?" Artemis asked.

"It's a large event that happens in Gotham every year. I'm usually there, after all, villains just love to crash large events and try to kill all of the people there, or threaten to kill them, so, you know, it's just sort of smart to attend these sort of things," Robin said, improvising.

"Team come to the briefing room to receive your mission," Batman said over the intercom. The team rushed to the room. As Robin ran in, Batman gave him a funny look. They seemed to have a silent conversation in a matter of seconds, and Batman started the briefing. Right after Batman had explained that the mission was to sneak into a Kobra facility, get any information they could find, and get out without being noticed, Robin's phone rang.

Robin pulled up the caller ID, and stared for a second, before looking at Batman. "I've got to take this," Robin said after a second, walking away from the group. Robin connected his phone to his earpiece, and answered it.

"Where are you!?" immediately rang out. Superboy suddenly looked over at Robin. He had obviously heard that. And so had almost everyone else.

"Great," Robin thought. I really need to turn the volume on my phone down,"

"Umm….. Robin,… something you've been meaning to tell us, or is that not a girl asking where you are?" Zatanna asked, a bit of worry seeping into her voice. Sure she and Robin had only kissed once,… on New Years,… but she still liked him, and if he was going on a date with someone…

"Yeah I'm coming, be right there," Robin said into his earpiece as he walked towards the zeta tubes. Before he reached the exit, Robin yelled back "Gotta go, see you guys later," and then he disappeared around the corner.

Batman continued as if nothing had happened. "Scanners on the watchtower have picked up activity in this location," Batman said, pointing to the middle of the pacific on the holo-map. "I have done some subtle hacking, but the security is amazing. The little I was able to find out without revealing to them that they were being hacked only leads to more questions."

Wally raised his hand. He could tell Batman was ignoring him, and about to move on, so he interrupted. "Can Robin hack better than you, because he can cover his work almost every single time, so the people he hacks have no evidence saying he has hacked into their systems."

"Here they have people constantly watching their security. If you tried to hack them, they would see you doing it, and trace it back, or copy the signature of the hacker. As of yet, they still don't know that I infiltrated their systems at all. But as I was saying, they are working with Joker. The team of scientists housed on that island are attempting to make a super venom, sort of like Blockbuster. The biggest difference is that they are trying to make it controllable. They want to be able to infect random people, and then be able to take complete control of the subject,: Batman said.

"Wow," Wally said in wonder. "If they can pull that off…"

"Your mission is to infiltrate the base on the island, take any samples you can find, and retrieve all the information you can find. Then you need to get out. If possible, you must do all of this without being noticed,"

"Without Robin?" Artemis clarified.

"Robin will join you if he can, but the mission will be executed without him, yes," Batman said.

"Where will Robin be?" Zatanna asked.

"Yes, where will he be?" Kaldur asked as well.

"As he has already said, Robin has tonight off for personal business," Batman replied.

"Is there a reason the team has been assigned this mission, and not the league?" Superboy asked.

"Does it matter?!" Wally said. "We don't have to be bored anymore, because we have a mission. Don't complain, just accept it."

"The league will not be able to help because we are most likely being watched by Kobra. They would be alerted if anyone in the League suddenly went off the grid, or came for them. That would raise their security, and maybe even stop their work. If that happened, we wouldn't be able to find out how far they are, or be able to stop them from completing it." Batman said.

"How soon should we deploy?" Kaldur asked.

"As soon as you're ready," Batman said.

…

Robin grappled up into the night sky. He was supposed to meet Barbara in about 2 minutes, and she wouldn't be happy if he was late. Swinning through the air, he was once again reminded what had happened that very day, years ago. The image flashed through his mind, over and over again. Robin fought the tears that threatened to come. Dropping onto a rooftop just a little ways away from the circus entrance Robin changed into the civvies he had brought with him. Dropping off of the rooftop, he took off his mask, completing his transformation into Dick Grayson.

Dick ran across the street, and was just about to cross the corner that led to the circus tent, when his phone rang again. It was Barbara again. Looking around the corner, Dick saw her, and hung up. He snuck up behind her, and tapped her on the shoulder. "There you are," She said as she turned around. "Took you long enough."

"Sorry about the wait," Dick said, genuinely sorry he had made her wait.

They walked into the circus tent together, and Dick handed the tickets to the appropriate staff member. They found their seats and sat down. It wasn't long before the show began. However, the second it started Dick felt the tears. This brought back so many memories. When his parents first brought him to the circus, they had taught him how to play acrobatic HORSE. And the acrobats were playing just that.

Of course to the audience it looked like a practiced routine, but it wasn`t. They hadn't practiced at all for this. As thoughts of his parents clouded his head, Dick felt a hand on his shoulder. Barbara looked at her friend in concern. But in his eyes, she could see that this would be good for him.

Dick took a deep breath, clearing his mind. He could mourn his parents more later, now he really needed to watch the show. Leaning back, he rested his hand on the armrest. And internally he smiled a bit when Barbara's hand found it's way onto his.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

The bio-ship flew over the island in camouflage mode, coming to hover just a few feet above the sandy beach. The island was very small, with no visible buildings, because they were all underground.

Kaldur dropped into the water, and swam silently closer to the shore. From there, he scouted the ground, and found a nice place for the bio-ship to set down. Superboy, Kid Flash, Artemis, Zatanna, and Rocket all exited the bio-ship. Megan had to stay with the bio-ship. If security was anywhere near as good as Batman said, they couldn't leave it lying around with out it being found, and compromising the secrecy of their mission.

The bio-ship disappeared into the night. Kaldur motioned for everyone to move towards the tree line. There the building would be visible. "Guys," Megan said telepathically. "I checked, I won't be able to keep up the mind link once you enter the building. From there on out, your on your own."

"Thanks for the warning," Kaldur said.

"I'll see what I can do to aid you from out here, but I don't know if I'll be able to."

"If you do find a way you could help, do, but if not it isn't a problem," Kaldur replied.

"Be careful," Megan said

"We will," Kaldur thought back.

When they reached the tree line, they looked over the building. It looked just like your average warehouse. "Alright here's the plan," Kaldur said turning to the team. Artemis, you will check the top for any entrances, Wally, you run around the perimeter of the building and check the defenses. But keep in the trees, and out of sight."

The team immediately executed the plan, and in less than a minute Wally was back. "It's pretty well guarded," He said quickly. "There's probably at least 20 guys guarding the outside, and even more on the inside. The guard's routine checks don't leave a big enough gap for anyone but me to get in."

Artemis crept over to the group, and simply said, "I found an entrance, but it'll be tight, and noisy. In order to get in, you would have to be virtually silent." Kaldur didn't like their options, but they wouldn't get any better.

"Ok, Wally, you sneak in the front door, Artemis and myself will use the top entrance."

"What about me?" Superboy asked.

"You will stay out here with Megan.." Superboy was about to protest when Kaldur went on. "In case we need backup. If we are discovered, it would be nice to know that we have you waiting to crash in, cause the distraction we need to escape, and help us pull off the escape. Superboy's unspoken protest died immediately. "Artemis, show me that entrance, and then we'll execute operation infiltrate."

…

As it turned out, getting in was the easy part. Artemis had found the air intake system, and they followed it in. Once inside, they finally saw the true security of the place. It seemed like there were security cameras on every corner. There were also guards constantly wandering the halls. With no way to regroup with Wally, and no way to communicate safely, the mission had just taken a turn for the worse. Artemis shot a small projective into one of the cameras. The camera had just taken a picture of the hallway, and it would only show that picture to the guards monitoring the security control. Now came the hard part. With a second of the mini-cameras, Artemis managed to hit the other camera with a picture that would resemble the first very well. Only an expert could tell the difference, and even then, if they weren't warned something was off with the picture an expert might have a hard time.

With that taken care of, Artemis and Aqualad dropped down out of the ceiling vents into the hallway they had just cleared of camera feed. They snuck up on the two guards in the hall, and silently took them down. The next step was to look for Wallly, and hope he didn't get himself caught.

…

Wally waited for the guards turned their backs on the main door before he moved. Despite what most people thought he actually knew what he was doing when it came to stealth. If he needed to he could be deadly serious. He darted in, and quickly slid between the barely open doors. In a flash he was in the corner. His black suit blended in perfectly with the shadows cast into the corner by the over head light in the center of the room.

Wally quickly checked the mind link, just in case Ms. Martian was wrong about it blocking her Martian powers. Of course she wasn't, but it didn't hurt to check. Looking around, there didn't appear to be anything off about the warehouse. It looked completely empty. No.. it Was completely empty. The warehouse shook, and Wally heard thunder. Over the noise, he missed the quiet voice speaking.

"Master, the subjects have arrived.

…

Dick Grayson managed to sit through the entire show, but only because Barbara had constantly pinned him to the seat. If she hadn't been there, he probably would have been long gone. The strong men, and archers were doing their post show performance they do while everyone is exiting. Dick headed for the exit, not really wanting to talk to anyone from the circus right now.

Dick felt an arm on his shoulder leading him aside. He complied, and Barbara followed. Looking at the man leading them, he realized it was Hailey, the ring master. "Did we do a decent job with the show, Dick?" he asked.

"It was fine," Dick said. " You did a good job of portraying everything they enjoyed doing, but it just… I don't know what I was hoping for, most of the stuff just seemed weird to me since my parents weren't there."

"I understand," Hailey said. "They were the best I've ever seen on the trapeze. It's a shame, really. Most of the people in the audience have never actually seen a Grayson on the trapeze."

With a sigh Dick pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, and asked for a pen. When Hailey gave him one, Dick wrote something on it, then handed it to the ring master. "Next time you have a show, give me a call," He said. "I'll see what I can do on getting here early.

"So… how has life been for you since you got adopted?" Hailey was asking as Barbara walked towards the exit. Hailey would keep him occupied, and probably up beat. That allowed her to scout out the area. Of course, it was probably safe, but with so many baddies out since the breakout at Arkam, it didn't hurt to check.

Barbara quickly scanned the area. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, so she brought up the caller I.D. The screen was blank. "There is no caller I.D.!" She realized. She pulled up her phone, and answered. "Joe's Salon, this is Becky speaking how can I help you." It was Barbara's thing to answer like that, especially when she couldn't see a caller I.D.

"How is he doing?" Bruce asked from the other end of the phone.

"About as well as you would expect. He had a really hard time staying for the entire show."

"Well, when you finish up there, I would like to talk to both of you," Bruce said, ending the call.

"Great," Barbara thought. "Whenever he wants to talk to both of us it never seems to be a good thing." Then Barbara walked back into the tent. She needed to tell Dick that Bruce wanted to talk to them, and then they probably needed to leave.

…

Bruce Wayne had finally, after watching the video he had taken of the team's training session, made his decision. The team was ready. The screen on the Batcave computer beeped, signaling that one of the small devices he had put on each member of the team had gone offline. The device would scan the person it was attached to, constantly sending out a signal to his computer. The only reason it would turn off was if the person was unconscious. The computer beeped twice more. If three of them were unconscious that could only mean one thing. The team had been discovered. Bruce activated his communicator, and called Dick.

…

Dick's phone rang, and he answered. "Hello"

"The Team need's your help, if you aren't too busy."

Dick pulled his phone down, covering the speaker, and saying "I have to go, give me a call, we can talk more then," Dick walked towards the tent opening, when Barbara walked in. Pulling the phone back up, Dick said, "Ok, I'm open, what's going on?" Barbara stopped in her tracks. "What's going on" was their code with the Bat that the used when they weren't in costume. It meant they had a mission, and needed to know more, because they were going straight there, and not to the Batcave first. "Babs, we need to go," Dick said as he jogged out the tent entrance.


	6. Apology

p style="text-align: center;"strongSorry it's taken so long, Chapter six is in the works, and it should be up soon./strong/p 


	7. Chapter 6

I am soooooooooo sooooooo very sorry for the wait on this one. LIfe got in the way, then when i found time to write I had forgotten where i was going with the story. In the future i will try very hard not to make you guys wait on me near this long. My goal is to get one chapter out every week, or every other week. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

CHAPTER 6

"Where exactly are we headed?" Batgirl asked as she and Robin grappled to the rooftops.

"Batman wants us to go help out the Team on a remote island in the pacific," Robin said as he jumped, and glided to a lower rooftop.

"And we are going to get there how?"

"The Batwing is coming to drop off some gear to help. Then it will take us up to the lower atmosphere. We'll glide as far as we can, and swim the rest of the way," Robin said with a smile in Batgirl's direction.

"Ok, but should I really be there. The team doesn't know about me yet," Batgirl asked.

"You know you'll join the team sooner or later, so what's the problem?"

"Well, it's just that…" She started as she grappled to the tallest building in the area.

"Your worried that you won't fit in, or my team won't like you," Robin stated.

"I wouldn't put it like that, but…"

"But that's the truth," Robin said as he grappled to a higher roof. Batgirl followed, shaking her head slowly.

"You are impossible, you assume your correct every time. Sometimes your wrong you know," Batgirl said somewhat teasingly.

"Oh, I agree," Robin said. "I am wrong sometimes. Just not this time."

"If you say so…"

The Batwing flew overhead and dropped two cables to the two bats. At the end of the cables were two boxes. The two disconnected the boxes, finding some portable glider suits. The arms and the legs had wings connected, so it could be folded up. It was made of the same material as Batman's cape, making it foldable, but also very effective as a glider. The two put the suits on, and used the line to climb up to the Batwing. Once there it flew out over the ocean. The two flew on in silence, neither one wanting to pick up the conversation where it left off, but both fearing that if they started up the conversation it would make it's way back to that same spot.

About 20 minutes later, the plane flew to the gliding point. They looked at each other, mentally synchronizing, then Robin pressed the eject button. The Batwing's top pulled back, and then Robin and Batgirl were launched into the air. When they reached the top off their launch, spread their arms, and the glider caught on the wind.

It was a long, and quiet glide down, both feeling the anxiety of the moment. They had to dive towards the water a bit early, because of the light circling out from the island. There were patrols on the shore, and spotlights shining on the nearby water. Robin his the water, and quickly took the removable cape off. He folded it up, and managed to stuff it into his utility belt, which he wore over one shoulder and across his chest, so he could access it easier while swimming. Robin put a rebreather from his belt into his mouth, and looked over to confirm that batgirl had done the same. Of course she had, so on a nod from him, the ducked under the water, and started swimming toward the island.

…

Superboy paced around in a large circle, Zatanna and Rocket sitting on rocks a little ways off. The team had been gone for a while now, and Superboy was weighing his options. He could barge in, or wait, like Aqualad had instructed. Superboy was walking over to the girls to ask what they thought when everything went south. He heard dogs, and footsteps. "Megan" he thought, but got no response. That worried him.

He reached the girls and was about to warn them when the dogs, or as they turned out to be, wolves, burst through the trees, catching the girls by surprise. A man stepped after them, holding some sort of electric baton. The wolves wrestled the girls into the trees.

"The boss said to expect you," the man said. "and just like always, he was right,"

"who are you?" Superboy asked.

"No friend of yours," the man replied.

Superboy prepared himself for the coming battle as best he could, taking up a defensive stance to try to be ready for an attack, in case more wolves came.

…

Batman sat in his chair at the Batcave, monitoring his screen for updates. The team hadn't had anything new happen, and he was again trying to hack the answers out of his computer. Of course, he wasn't having much luck. Batman looked up, and watched as another light blinked off, shortly followed by two more. Only one was still lit up. "You had better hurry Robin," Batman said to himself as he got everything set up to contact the league. If anything else happened, Batman would call in the league to get the team out, regardless of if they lost the information in doing so. The team was worth more than that.

…

Superboy and the newcomer walked in a large circle, mirroring the other's movements. Both were sizing up their opponent.

"The others went down without too much of a fight, how bad can you be compared to them?" the man said.

"I'll let you find out," Superboy replied as he ran at the mystery man.

Superboy's first punch missed, but he spun and threw his elbow into the man from the side. With his super strength, that should have done a lot more damage, but it just made the man stumble to the side. The man came back, swinging his baton with fury. Superboy ducked, and tried punching again, but the same effect. The man was reacting as if Superboy didn't actually have any excelled strength. The man's baton blurred through the air, connecting with Superboy. It packed a surprisingly large amount of power, because it actually knocked him back a couple of feet.

Superboy looked around with his newfound space from his enemy, and saw that he was surrounded. There were wolves on all sides, and the man was slowly walking towards him, closing the distance. Out of the corner of his eye, Superboy saw Zattana and Rocked laying on the ground, most likely unconscious. He wished he could finish this fast, and get to helping them, or at least getting them on the bioship with Megan…

"Megan" he thought. Was she ok? Had this maniac person, whoever he was found the bioship? "Megan," he thought frantically. No response. His anger boiled over. This man had done something to his friends, so this man would pay. Superboy charged the man, turning what looked like another punch into a full on body slam. Surprisingly, it worked. The man went flying backwards, and rolled to a halt.

"Nicely done!" the man said as he climbed to his feet. "Not quite as good as your friend with the water enhancements, but nice still the same."

Superboy ignored him, charging again. As the man tried to step to the side, Superboy jumped, angling off to intercept him. He turned his momentum into a flying punch, or rather, a jumping punch, but he missed. He smashed into the man, sending both of them to the ground, and the wolves stepped forward in unison. Superboy grabbed the man, and threw him off, climbing to his feet as the snarling wolves surrounded him.

They jumped at him, one after the other. He felt teeth sinking in all over, and he wildly punched. It didn't matter where he punched, he hit a wolf. Superboy felt something hit his back, and he grew weak. He fell forward onto his face, completely exhausted. The wolves all stepped back as the man stepped forward, slapping his glowing baton against his the palm of his other hand.

"Well fought, well fought, but I always win," the man said as he stepped closer, towering over the figure of the downed Superboy. "Say goodnight," the man said as he raised his baton over his head, the glow intensifying.

Suddenly something flashed over Superboy's head, and the baton went flying from the man's hands. A supersonic shrilling rang out through the forest, and the wolves started whimpering as they recoiled from the sound. The sound got louder, and the wolves fled.

The man looked toward the sound in confusion, then watched as Robin walked closer. The man actually laughed. "You think YOU can stop me?!" the man said, taking a step forward.

"Hmm. Yeah, I guess I didn't really expect anything more than an overconfident lackey anyways," Robin said, seemingly to himself.

The man stared for a second, before recovering the shreds of dignity he hadn't yet lost, and walked towards Robin, a deadly gleam in his eye. Robin walked slowly towards the man as well, nodding his head slightly to the side. The man spun around, expecting some kind of ambush, and Robin threw two Birdarangs at the back of the man;s head. The man spun just barely quick enough to catch the Birdarangs, and smile at Robin. The smile said: "Ha,ha, nice try, but it ain't gonna work on me," Robin smiled back, dropping into a fighting stance. Superboy looked up, just in time to see the figure drop from the trees, purple cape flowing behind them, and land right on top of Robin's opponent.

Batgirl kicked her feet into the back of the man's head, and he collapsed.

"Nice work," Robin said, crouching down to inspect the man, Batgirl crouching beside him.

"Who's that?" Superboy asked, sitting up, and gesturing towards Batgirl.

"This is Batgirl," Robin said as he looked up. "But we'll have time for a full introduction later. Right now, I need you to tell me exactly what happened. Because we have a team to save,"


	8. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Robin crouched next to the unconscious figure, who's hidden name tag read "Zeron". It was probably a codename, but at least now they had something to call him, other than "him", or "that guy", or "the man". Batgirl was scouting the area, and Superboy was in the process of scanning for heat signatures in the area.

Upon finishing, Superboy asked, "What've we got?"

"It looks like that strength you mentioned, and that draining was all in his stick," Robin said. "Aside from that, I can't really tell all that much. I found some I.D. cards, but they all either have no name, or say 'Zeron'." Robin pulled up the computer on his glove, and started to scan Zeron for anything else of interest.

Finding nothing of importance, Robin turned his attention back to the I.D. cards. There were 5 of them. One appeared to be a driver's license, probably fake, one was a bronze card, with some other language writing on it, the third card was a name tag, which would slide into a special plastic case that clip onto the outside of a uniform. "Zeron" was printed across one side, and the other side was blank. The forth card was silver, and it was blank. The last card was a credit card of some sort. The writing looked alien, which, with all the other cards, led Robin to believe that this man wasn't human.

"It looks like this particular man is some sort of alien," Robin said, continuing his analysis.

"Any idea where from?" Batgirl said walking back over, and crouching beside Zeron next to Robin.

"I'm not sure where he's from originally, but it looks like this operation is deeper than we thought. I'm assuming that this island is actually housing a whole civilization of aliens, based on all these cards. It seems that in their time on earth, they learned a thing or two about human economics, and liked some of the ideas.

"Ok," Superboy said a little annoyed. "How does this help us to rescue our friends?"

"The more you know about your enemy, the better you can fight them," Batgirl said.

"Precisely," Robin said. "Now I am going to try to get a message to Batman, would you two work on tying this guy up?"

"Fine," Superboy said. "But be quick about it. The longer we wait, the more these aliens can do to our team before we find them.

Robin walked to the drop off point along the waterline, dodging at least three patrols along the way. Pulling out his flashlight and mirror, Robin quickly signaled the league's operative on the next island over, so he could relate their progress to the league. Then Robin proceeded to sneak back to Superboy and Batgirl. By the time he got back, Batgirl had left to scout out the enemy base of operations, and Superboy was dejectedly sitting by a tree. As Robin walked closer, Superboy said, "Your going to leave me behind too, aren't you?"

"Stealth isn't really your forte, but I do have a plan," Robin said. Once Batgirl got back Robin explained his plan. "Batgirl and I will sneak in first," he said, "to see how we can get Superboy in. If we don't see any way in, we'll come back here and talk to you. If we aren't back in 15 minutes, come in after us," Robin said.

"Fine," Superboy said.

Robin and Batgirl looked at each other, then she took off running in the direction of the base. Robin followed. The two ran, dodging trees, until they finally slowed near the clearing. "There seems to be two possible entrances," Batgirl said as Robin caught up. "An air intake duct, and the main entrance. The air duct is already open, suggesting that someone has used it already," she said.

"Ok," Robin said, "We'll take the air duct. Any clues we can find about what happened to the team will be helpful."

Robin went first, and Batgirl followed. They quickly made their way through the air ducts, following signs left by the team as they entered. These could be displaced dust, or a slight bowing of the duct in some areas. It only took a minute to find their way through the ducts to where the team got in. Robin and Batgirl dropped to the ground seconds after Robin hacked the security feed from the cameras. They were in a long corridor, which went on for a distance in either direction.

"Which way?" Batgirl asked.

"We'll go right first," Robin said. "We don't want to split up, after all, there is a reason the team needs help."

"Got it" Batgirl said.

They ran off, Robin in the lead again. As they reached the corner, they slowed, and Robin peered around the corner. He didn't see anyone, so he motioned for Batgirl to move around with him. As she moved, Robin switched jobs with her. She now took the lead, and he watched their backs. Looking back ahead, Robin saw that they had entered another long hallway. He and Batgirl locked eyes for a second, then took off running for the other end of the hallway. It took less than a minute for them to reach the other end, and again, Robin peered around the corner.

This hallway was a bit different. It was half the size of the other ones, and in the center of the hall there were two sets of doors, both facing opposite directions. There were four guards total, one on each side of the doors. This hallway was also wider. It could fit multiple lanes of traffic if it had to, the other hallways could only fit, maybe one lane. Robin surveyed the situation, and pulled back around the corner, to give Batgirl a chance to have a look. After she was finished, Robin started strategizing with her.

"We could knock them out with batarangs," Robin said quietly. "But that might alert the people in charge that we are here."

"We could hit them with a sleeping gas," Batgirl suggested.

"Yeah, that could work," Robin said as they both reached into their utility belts to pull out their sleeping gas canisters. They also each pulled out a gas mask.

After putting the masks on, Robin opened his canister, and rolled it out a ways into the hallway. Batgirl did the same. The guards were talking, so they didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. They each only noticed the gas when it started affecting them, but by then it was already too late.

Robin and Batgirl crept out to their canisters of sleeping gas, and shut them. Then they proceeded to handcuff the unconscious guards.

"Take the left side door" Robin said to Batgirl, as he dragged the guards bodies in front of the other door (Which opened out) effectively blocking anyone who tried to come from that direction. Batgirl hacked into the door mainframe, and disabled any security measures that the door might have by the time Robin got back from the other side of the hall. Batgirl hit a few more buttons, and the door opened up, revealing a huge room, with a red carpet leading from the door to the other side of the room. The room was at least twice the length of the hallway they had taken, but the walls were surprisingly close. They only had about two feet on either side of the carpet. At the far side of the room, there was a bright light, accompanied by the echo, or dampened screams.

Robin turned to look at Batgirl, who met his gaze. Something was happening at the other end of the hall, and Robin guessed that it had something to do with the rest of the team. Unfortunately, the hall and the light made it difficult to see anything. Robin motioned towards the light with his hand, and he and Batgirl crept towards the light. There was no furniture in the way, or anything they could hide behind, so if anyone looked there way, they would be seen. Their hope was that the people in the light wouldn't hear them, and thus have no reason to turn their heads to look.

The door behind them started to close, so Robin placed a batarang inbetween the doors at the top, the bottom, and the bottom, effectively preventing the door from locking. It also meant that no noise was made as the lock, or the door clicked into place. Robin looked back, and Batgirl had already crept closer to the light. Robin followed, sticking close to the wall, crouched down, stepping only as fast as he could without making any noise. The light intensified, and the dampened screaming increased in volume. A shaking could be felt even from where Robin was crouched. Something was going on up there, and it couldn't be good.

…

Superboy felt the ground shake before he heard the muffled screams from within the building. If it weren't for his super hearing, he probably wouldn't have noticed it, but he did. He checked his watch for what seemed like the millionth time. He still had a good five minutes to wait. Superboy finally let himself think back to what had happened so far. It still was a little unclear as to how the mission went south so fast, but if he could figure something out, he could prove all the others wrong. He could prove that he really wasn't just brawn. As he though about it more, the more uncomfortable he became. Somehow, they had been prepared for every move they made. He still wasn't sure how, but he intended to do his best to come up with something.

Thinking back on his fight with the wolves, and the man Zeron, Superboy searched for any detail he might have missed. He closed his eyes, and mentally brought back the images from the fight. The wolves, Zeron, and now that he was looking at it from a different perspective, he saw something he had missed the first time. The wolves came from the trees. Each wolf was a tree that transformed into a wolf when Zeron did something with his stick. Superboy opened his eyes as something clicked in his head.

A huge mistake on his part, and he couldn't believe he had missed this. He looked over to where Zatanna and Rocket were last, and, like he had suspected, they were gone. And just like that, Superboy was no longer safe in the woods, a ways away from the enemy building. Instead he was with an enemy commander, who could potentially transform every single one of the trees surrounding him into deadly creatures. Superboy looked around, scanning for any sign of movement, on edge. This was not good at all.

…

Robin and Batgirl crept closer to the light, trying to get a glimpse of what it actually held. Creeping closer, Robin turned to Batgirl, and quietly said "I doubt the actual information we need is in here, but it seems important. Splitting up is a terrible idea, but if we want to check this out, and get the information Batman wanted, we'll have to."

" Yeah," Batgirl said. " I'll fall back and guard the door, so I can try to hack the system and get the information we need. You check this out. If you need me, just signal, and I'll be on the way."

"Sounds good," Robin whispered. Sneaking back towards the light, Robin was very careful to be absolutely silent. The only advantage he would have, if there was someone in the light, would be surprise. He would have to be very careful to keep that advantage. Suddenly, the light dimmed, and the screaming stopped. As the light dimmed more, Robin was finally able to see what was going on. In the center of the room, there was a Stonehenge like pattern of circular tubes, each one extending about 10 feet off the ground. They made a large circle around a big machine that was in the center. Creeping closer, Robin saw that some of his friends were in the tanks.

Aqualad, KF, Miss Martian, Zatanna, and Rocket were each in a tank, and the rest were empty. They were all floating in some clear liquid, plugged in to the tank, which was presumably providing air. From each of the tubes ran cables connecting it to the central machine. Robin ran towards the tubes, and barely managed to stop, and dive behind one of the tubes as he heard footsteps. Looking back, he saw a few men in suits identical to Zeron's, and one in a white lab coat.

They started speaking in a language that Robin actually did understand, and it started to bring back some unwanted memories, including that dream, NO, he wouldn't let himself think about that. Your fears really were powerful, and if you let yourself dwell on them to long, it could drive you mad.

Pushing all of these thoughts aside, Robin automatically translated their words to English in his head.

"Test subject 1, 2 3, and 4 responded well, but subject 5 has had a setback. It seems that subject 5's scope of energy exceeds that of our stabilization levels. The residual side effects of this failure may last up to 48 hours. Slightly altering the properties used, we can set up for the next test run, and we will begin the next test soon. The strain on the other test subjects seems minimal, allowing them to be used in many more experiments before termination."

At this, Robin ducked around the tube he was hiding behind, and attacked. Before they realized they were under attack, the first two of the soldiers were out cold, each from a forceful kick to the back of the head. Throwing a batarang, Robin knocked the man in the white lab coat, who he assumed was a scientist, away from the controls of the machine he was reaching for. Robin had to finish quickly, and prevent either of his opponents from raising the alarm. If the alarm was raised, their chances of escape would be lowered drastically, especially given the condition his friends were in. Robin jumped into a flying kick, colliding with the third guard, but he showed no reaction. Robin flipped backwards, landing on his feet in front of the last guard.

Robin saw the scientist reaching for the controls again, but he still had the soldier between him and the scientist. Robin ran forward, jumping up, and dodging the now very active, and startlingly quick soldier, who pulled a baton like the one Zeron had used out of nowhere. Robin dodged back, and barely got a batarang around the soldier, knocking the scientist's hand away from the controls. Robin jumped forward, twisting in mid-air, and using his hands to propel himself off of the guards shoulders, to land behind him. Turning quickly, Robin kicked the scientist in the face, and threw two punches before he was tackled to the floor by the soldier. The scientist climbed to his feet, dazed, but conscious. Robin found himself on the floor, while the soldier pulled a card out of his pocket. He slapped his baton on his wrist, and it morphed to form a watch-like device that extended from his wrist to the top of his knuckles. It wrapped around the palm of his hand as well. The man placed the card on the back of his hand, and the contraption glowed, before the card disappeared. The man charged, and jumped. As he came down, Robin rolled to the side, the soldier's fist narrowly missed his head, but the impact still sent him rolling a few feet. Robin quickly sprang to his feet, and threw a batarang at the contraption on the man's wrist. The batarang clanged off, and skittered into the wall. Climbing to his feet, Robin saw the man charge.

For the first time so far, Robin actually had a problem with the brace Alfred had him wearing for his wrist. It didn't give him the full range of motion that he needed to successfully catch, a punch like the one staring him in the face. Robin dodged the first, and second punches, but the third one connected, and it felt like he was being hit by a freight train. Robin flew across the room, and crashed into one of the tubes, which cracked upon impact.

Robin fell to the ground, out of air, and very glad that Bruce had installed the new padding into his suit. It had been designed to protect him from a hit or two from Bane, and he was more glad than ever that he hadn't turned it down.

Robin looked up as the soldier pressed a few buttons on the contraption on his wrist. The card re-appeared, and he quickly traded it out for a new one. That card glowed, then disappeared, just like last time. Pointing his hand at Robin, the contraption twitched, then sprang to life, shooting ice. Robin dove out of the way, and looked back at the frozen tube. He quickly threw his cape in the way, and the cold hit him. When the stream finally stopped, Robin backed up a few steps, then hit his cape. The remaining ice particles fell to the ground. Again, Robin was very glad for the equipment in his suit. The cape had an auto heating, factor, for fighting with Mr. Freeze.

The soldier pressed a few more buttons, and Robin pulled out two of his special batarangs. Throwing them at the soldiers feet, the expanded into wads of foam that immediately hardened, sticking the soldiers feet to the ground. Then, Robin threw on of his explosive Robinrangs, and when it his the man's arm, it exploded. Batgirl jumped out from behind him, and connected a solid kick to the man's head. This time, the soldier reacted to being hit, and collapsed. Robin;s wrist-computer beeped, and he started at it in terrible realization. His 15 minutes were up. Seconds later, an alarm started ringing throughout the entire facility. Looking at Batgirl, then at the unconscious soldier, Robin quickly kicked the scientist, who thought he was doing a convincing job of being unconscious, in the head.

Robin had realized that his initial run down of Zeron had been very wrong. He was now starting to realize the significance of what he had just experienced. If all of the soldiers had these special batons, and cards, then escape had just become a very unlikely option. Robin stared at the machine in front of him, dreading the daunting task that was ahead. Batgirl placed her hand on his shoulder reassuringly. Robin looked at her in thanks, and she met his gaze. Mentally strengthened, Robin turned back to the machine, and went to work trying to free his friends.


End file.
